Recent studies have revealed the detailed timing of protein recruitment to endocytic sites in budding yeast. However, little is understood about the early stages of their formation. Here we identify the septin-associated protein Syp1p as a component of the machinery that drives clathrin-mediated endocytosis in budding yeast. Syp1p arrives at endocytic sites early in their formation and shares unique dynamics with the EH-domain protein Ede1p. We find that Syp1p is related in amino acid sequence to several mammalian proteins one of which, SGIP1-␣, is an endocytic component that binds the Ede1p homolog Eps15. Like Syp1p, SGIP1-␣ arrives early at sites of clathrin-mediated endocytosis, suggesting that Syp1p/Ede1p and SGIP1-␣/Eps15 may have a conserved function. In yeast, both Syp1p and Ede1p play important roles in the rate of endocytic site turnover. Additionally, Ede1p is important for endocytic site formation, whereas Syp1p acts as a polarized factor that recruits both Ede1p and endocytic sites to the necks of emerging buds. Thus Ede1p and Syp1p are conserved, early-arriving endocytic proteins with roles in the formation and placement of endocytic sites, respectively.
INTRODUCTIONThe dynamics of protein recruitment to sites of clathrinmediated endocytosis have been revealed by live-cell microscopy in budding yeast and mammalian cells (Merrifield et al., 2002;Kaksonen et al., 2003;Kaksonen et al., 2005). These studies have identified numerous proteins that sequentially assemble at endocytic sites and have shown that actin polymerization can power internalization. It is now evident that the dynamic recruitment and disappearance of endocytic proteins are precisely coordinated for productive internalization and that each protein has defined dynamics at endocytic sites. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae four endocytic modules have been defined that each contain proteins with similar dynamics: the coat, WASP/myo, amphiphysin, and actin modules (Kaksonen et al., 2005).Despite detailed knowledge of events at endocytic sites, little is understood about the early stages of their formation. The best candidates for proteins that initiate endocytic site formation are those that arrive earliest. In mammalian cells the classical coat protein clathrin marks the earliest known stage of endocytic site formation (Merrifield et al., 2002). Additionally, the adapter AP-2, is critical for site formation and has similar dynamic behavior to clathrin and so is thought to arrive early (Hinrichsen et al., 2003;Motley et al., 2003;Ehrlich et al., 2004;Keyel et al., 2004). In yeast, the role of AP-2 is unclear, but clathrin, a coat module component, marks the first stages of endocytosis, and its deletion causes severe defects in the number of sites formed (Huang et al., 1999;Kaksonen et al., 2005;Newpher et al., 2005;Newpher and Lemmon, 2006). An additional yeast protein, Ede1p, arrives early and plays a role in endocytic site formation, although its dynamics and function have yet to be fully investigated (Kaksonen et al., 2005;Toshima et al., 200...